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I originally posted this in Ask The Tropers, but now uploading to Trope Finder as well on advice of mod Willbyr (thanks!) to see if there are any related tropes that might already cover the concept. Please feel free to weigh in!

Hey all,

I was wondering if there's a trope page for that moment in anime (and other Japanese animation) when characters do a full-body shiver where even their hair stands on end. The most notable examples I can think of are from Studio Ghibli animation, e.a. in Spirited away when Chihiro is dealing the the super gross river god in Yubaba's bath house, and when Jiji the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service first locks eyes with the white cat Lily.

I was in fact so sure that this was an actual trope that I confidently googled studio ghibli shiver tv tropes and was astounded when there wasn't already a trope page for this. I would love to see a page collecting shiver moments like this, they always makes me laugh and I think it's interesting that this shiver - at least as far as I can tell - is used to convey different kinds of emotions.

I feel sure that I have seen this full body shiver in other Japanese animation too, but the Studio Ghibli examples have stuck in my mind the most.

What do you all think about starting a Studio Ghibli Shiver trope page? Do you have any examples from Japanese animation (or other animation, for that matter) of characters doing a full-body shiver?

I don't think Knees Knocking Together entirely covers it, the appeal / what makes the trope amusing (at least to me) is that the entire outline of the body of the animated character seems to quake / shiver, like a visible ripple of goosebumps - or a cat's fur standing on end, except characters exhibiting the shiver don't necessarily have fur. (Although of course one of the examples I mentioned was Jiji the cat, and I also remember Tom from Tom and Jerry getting so startled his outline goes all jagged). Also, Knees Knocking Together seems to be all about quaking in fear, not quaking with other emotions.

Perhaps (assuming a trope page is created collecting examples from different media) it should focus on that ripple effect of the outline of the character, to make it clear that this is a trope collecting shivers / shakes caused by all manner of emotions and / or environmental factors?

Dropping the Studio Ghibli Shiver trope name, what else could be used? The expression Giving Me the Shivers might work (though it's not especially witty), but it at least covers the shivering caused by emotions that are not exclusively fear part of it.

I've also always been fond of heebie-jeebies (as in that gives me the heebie-jeebies) but i think that's only used for creepy and / or gross things, which doesn't cover shivering in a pleasant way.

Perhaps something including the word Frisson (a brief moment of emotional excitement; a shudder, a thrill) might work? Although frisson is a rather pretentious word XD Or perhaps The Great Shakes? (Great implying the shiver is easily visible to the viewer and / or other characters)

^ Not in the sense that the OP is talking about...that trope is talking about characters trembling in fear or nervousness where what's being asked about is a specific type of full-body shiver that's almost like an electric shock and is a reaction to a stimulus that's not necessarily fear. See here at around the 0:20 mark for one of the mentioned examples...I can't find a good clip of the other.

Thanks for the heads up! Man, coming up with a trope name sure is a lot more complicated than I thought...not complaining, all those rules make sense, but damn.

I just remembered another example of the kind of shiver I mean, from episode 3 of season 1 of Mob Psycho 100 where Ekubo / Dimple challenges him to a milk-drinking duel and then mixes something gross into the milk. It's around 14:20

Thanks, I'll do that! I thought about Head to Toe Tremble (for the alliteration) and then I realized that all examples I could think of start from the bottom and work their way up to the head, so that wouldn't work. (And Head to Toes might also be a stock phrase)

The important thing on the stock phrases is that the title should be a descriptor, not a line of dialogue- "giving me the shivers" is a stock phrase, but head-to-toe tremble would be fine, and you could do a redirect for toe-to-head tremble to make it clear that the reverse works too.

I would actively avoid using the word shiver, through- as noted, shivering with fear is the badly-named Knees Knocking Together. If you've got anything here, it's the Editorial Synaesthesia of representing a thrill or wave of emotion via a body-wave.

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